The Role Of African-Americans During World War I

4. Though racial discrimination was both common among the citizenship and the legal system at the time of World War I, many African-Americans still chose to fight in this war. Why would this be the case? Simply, it was their only chance at being recognized as equal. First, if African-Americans did not fight in the war, how would it be that the opposing forces would ever see them as equal? If they did not fight to preserve the country, it would give ammunition to those who said they did not deserve the same rights within it. Second, the primary stated purpose of the war was to spread and protect freedom and democracy. This resonated with those that felt that they were never offered it. It offered them a hope that they would receive it at the
Make way for Democracy!”

5. World War I was a time of massive repression. We witnessed an assault on almost every group that was labed “other”, though not all of these assaults began during, or were caused by, the war. Perhaps the greatest change in public opinion was directed towards the German-Americans. Before the war admiration for German music, philosophy, theater, and literature were high, though this would quickly change. German was, in many states, no longer taught in schools, German language newspapers were reduced by two-thirds and Karl Müch was even jailed for trying to include the works of Beethoven and other German Composers in his concerts. The Socialists had a hard time during this period as well. They saw their numbers shrink as propaganda lowed their membership, and the Espionage Act detained their leaders. In addition, it’s classification as an unamerican belief did not bode well
The face of Europe after World War I would never look the same, though this is often true after large wars. As we can see on the maps on page 762 and 763 of “Give Me Liberty”, many new countries would be created in the aftermath. First, german had its landmass decreased by a small amount to accommodate the land on its west and a demilitarized Rhineland in the east to protect france. More drastically, Russia has had the same treatment to make way for poland Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was no more, instead divided into many small countries and increasing the size of Romania. It was not the only nation to be erased however, as serbia has made way for Yugoslavia. In addition, Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece seem to still be occupied at the time of